Conficker Virus; What you need to know to protect your computer

A dangerous internet threat, a computer worm known as "Conficker," is spreading throughout the worldwide web. Computer experts are concerned about its growth and what it will do when the expected trigger date launches an attack on millions on April fools day. By some estimates, 10 million computers have already been infected worldwide.

Conficker, also known as Downup, Downadup and Kido is a computer worm that surfaced in October 2008 and targets the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Computer experts say they noticed a variant of  this infection known as Conficker C, in early March that seems to be waiting for instructions to launch some sort of attack. Experts expect the trigger date to April 1, 2009 or later and changing your computer date, will not protect your computer.

Nobody knows exactly what Conficker will do, but experts believe the worm will be used to create a botnet that will be rented out to criminals who want to send SPAM, steal IDs and direct users to online scams and phishing sites.

If you missed last nights 60 Minutes segment catch it here;



If your computer is infected with this worm, you may not experience any symptoms, or you may experience any of the following symptoms:

* Account lockout policies are being tripped.
* Automatic Updates, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Windows Defender, and Error Reporting Services are disabled.
* Domain controllers respond slowly to client requests.
* The network is congested.
* Various security-related Web sites cannot be accessed.

For more information visit the Microsoft Malware Protection Center

What you should know:

1. Changing the date of your system will not help avoid this worm.
2. Keeping your computer shut on April 1 will also not help either.
3. The only way to get past this worm is by updating Windows and your anti-virus software.

UPDATE: See: Computer Worm -No April Fool's Joke...

Mc Nelly Torres, report in the SunSentinel  includes a link to the Microsoft virus removal tool that when downloaded will remove the virus if sitting on your PC. I tried it and it worked very easily.



For more info and tips on how to protect your PC see TechTree.